Fool's Gold

Iron pyrite looks similar to the stuff they make wedding rings out of, but it's called fool's gold because if you find some and tell people you're rich, they'll call you an idiot. Funny, then, that this film should bear the name of such an embarrassing compound when the finished product is just about as valuable as its namesake.

Treasure-hunting beach bum Ben Finnegan (Matthew McConaughey, We Are Marshall) discovers remnants of a vast Spanish fortune buried off the Bahaman coast. Unfortunately, his soon-to-be ex-wife (Kate Hudson, Almost Famous) doesn't believe him and the thuggish rap star to whom he is deeply indebted does. With help and hindrances from some unlikely sources, it's a race to see who can unearth the dig first.

Like iron pyrite, Fool's Gold looks pretty on the exterior. Two of the best bods in Hollywood are reunited but with much less chemistry than they showed in 2003's How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. It's an overly predictable, semi-sweet, moderately funny, quasi-exciting romantic-comedy-adventure. There's no investment in story or characters; viewers are asked to watch Hudson and McConaughey flirt and fight for two hours, but it gets old quickly.

Revisit director Andy Tennant's prior projects Hitch and Sweet Home Alabama if it's cutesy fun you crave; you won't find much of that here. However ... if you've just been dying to see Malcolm Jamal-Warner acting since The Cosby Show was canceled, you're in luck. He has a small role.